By the time the other Pinnacle Seekers had waded across the marsh to solid ground, Seeker Thunder Wing had whittled the Engraving Guild members down to just the wounded young man. That young man watched with a horrified expression as the spikey-haired Pinnacle Seeker meticulously cleaned out some of the blood that had gotten under his nails during the earlier ‘conversation’.

The object of that horrified stare didn’t even notice the attention. Seeker Thunder Wing spoke lightly, alternating between addressing Seeker Ozaer and Randidly. “Unfortunately, our new friend doesn’t know much about the man you are seeking: just that the group was under special orders from the Engraving Guild representative.

“But in terms of their numbers and strengths… this young man was much more forthcoming.” Seeker Thunder Wing smiled at the young man, who shivered and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. “With just Seeker Ozaer and myself, even with your assistance, Mr. Ghosthound, proceeding forward directly will be dicey. The next spatial island is apparently the core of this place and I don’t want to get pinned down before more Pinnacle Seekers will be in the area. I recommend we wait a bit.”

Randidly pressed his lips together at that but didn’t disagree. He was lucky this time that the man with the Nether Core wasn’t very good at sensing Nether or felt no reason to scan them as Randidly had walked up to them. Otherwise, this would have been a much more dangerous trap.

And if their group showed up too quickly, the Engraving Guild would definitely wonder how they dealt so well with the traps they left.

The Pinnacle Seeker subordinates arrived, bringing Kerwin and Lay’mel with them. In typical Lay’mel fashion, the man had recovered from his traumatized state of mind and was now chatting amicably with several of the weaker Seekers in the most distant orbit of Claudette Beigon. With Kerwin at his side, he had the look of an ambitious young man attended by a loyal personal guard.

Rolling his eyes, Randidly glanced again toward the center of the social maelstrom that had seized the Pinnacle Seekers. From observing their behavior, one wouldn’t be able to tell they were penetrating deeply into a dangerous area at all; the young men and women were talking and laughing freely, as though this was just a vacation. At the center of it all, Claudette stood with her waterfall of golden hair. Her comments and smiles kept everything moving smoothly.

To a Randidly who still struggled with social interaction, it was honestly quite impressive. Even if she didn’t possess a Skill to the effect, each of her actions perfectly recognized the ambient emotions her companions released. She was a composer, deftly directing the individuals around her without seeming to be in control at all.

While he was studying her, Claudette looked up unexpectedly and met his gaze. She smiled wryly and did a half shrug, as though to say, ‘polite conversation, right? Total hell’. Then she beckoned, inviting him deeper into those swirling social currents. At her invitation, Randidly could step forward in an instant and be next to her.

If he wanted to, that is.

Even as the sycophantic Pinnacle Seekers were turning to look toward Randidly with unfriendly gazes, he looked away and crouched down. Idly, he began drawing basic Nether patterns on the ground. Since they had to pause, he might as well do something useful during that time.

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 225!

…

Influence +4!

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 233!

Influence +7!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 265!

“Where does he come from?”

Randidly, who had actually gotten rather consumed by his Nether experiments, looked up sharply at the nearby voice. Somehow, he had completely missed the approach of this individual. Seeker Ozaer stood only a single meter away, her long white hair perfectly straight as she regarded the wounded young man from the Engraving Guild with solemn eyes. She hadn’t been standing so closely when Seeker Thunder Wing was reporting the results of his interrogation earlier.

Randidly made a mental note to watch out for this individual in the future.

Seeker Thunder Wing shrugged. “He’s just an ant from the Engraving Guild. Hard to say what world he crawled out of.”

“Ah.” Seeker Ozaer said. She tilted her head to the side, looking closely at the young man. The young man hunched his shoulders further, attempting to hide from that mercilessly hollow gaze. “Then, I suppose he has outlived his usefulness.”

Without waiting for an answer, she gestured with a hand and conjured a small grey cloud above the young man’s head. A look of pure dread appeared on his face and the young man straightened abruptly. His hands were trembling. “Please, don’t-”

A single black raindrop fell on the young man. As soon as that drop touched his body, his words ceased and his expression was wiped smooth. His expression was suddenly one of peace. A dozen and then a hundred drops followed that first one. When the drops touched his flesh, flesh melted away, dissolved by that strange liquid. After twenty seconds, all that remained was a pile of bones.

Seeker Thunder Wing shook his head but didn’t say anything. But Randidly watched the process with the hairs along his spine straightening and tingling. Seeker Thunder Wing has treated me better due to the fact I possess a Hierarchy he is interested in, because I could suppress the Nether Heralds, and now because I have shown I can deal with Nether Rituals. But I shouldn’t forget this honorable treatment is because I seem to also want to reach the Pinnacle.

But in situations where we aren’t working together, Pinnacle Seekers are just as violent as the orthodox factions, and even more fanatical in their pursuits.

“So we keep waiting?” Seeker Ozaer asked Seeker Thunder Wing.

Seeker Thunder Wing shook his head again. “We cannot know when the other Pinnacle Seekers will make it to the final area, so we delay. Six and a half more minutes; I won’t risk waiting any longer than that.”

Seeker Ozaer nodded and the group waited for exactly six and a half minutes at the edges of the spatial wall. Occasionally, Randidly pressed his hand up against the spatial wall and peered into the next area, but truly, the size and complexity of the space meant that he couldn’t sense anything definitive. He lowered his hand from the spatial wall with a frown. Some things could only be explored the old fashioned way.

Meanwhile, the lessor Pinnacle Seekers seemed to crowd more tightly around Claudette. They finally seemed to acknowledged the approaching battle and reacted by engaging in their meaningless drivel with more conviction. Luckily, their reprieve didn’t last forever; soon it was time to move into the next area.

This time Seeker Ozaer led the way with Seeker Thunder Wing and his stuck-up six subordinates following. Unwilling to be left behind with Claudette and her groupies, Randidly brought his four along into the new area; he didn’t mind leaving Lay’mel and Kerwin with Claudette. The now-familiar wrenching seized them and suddenly they were in an entirely new location.

The first pleasant surprise was that this new place wasn’t wet. In fact, the first thing Randidly did was spread his toes with relish and allow the small crevices of his feet to dry out. For a few seconds, the heat was relaxing, comforting even. But as the heat continued to build, Randidly’s expression quickly became serious.

The air only five meters in front of the spatial wall was warping and twisting from the heat, making it difficult to see any further. Those distortions only became more violent the further out Randidly looked until he could barely observe anything at a distance of fifty meters. What he could make out indicated that they were standing on a low slope at the edge of the desert.

The sand beneath Randidly’s toes was large-grained and brittle, baked by the overwhelming heat into a tasteless crust. After standing for only a short while, Randidly wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could feel perspiration forming on the back of his neck.

But what was interesting about this place was that the heat of the desert didn’t come from natural means; the constant friction of the rapidly flowing layers of Aether and Nether was the main source of the temperature. To make matters worse, the constant flows seemed to be happening every meter or so, creating a regular series of barriers that needed to be overcome in order to proceed deeper into the isolated space.

The isolated islands of the outer spaces was done here in the core, in miniature.

Seeker Ozaer was looking around with a frown when Randidly arrived. Seeker Thunder Wing had his hands on his hips and was peering forward; about thirty meters ahead of them was a group of vague blotches that were probably the Engraving Guild contingent. Randidly gestured for his subordinates to remain still and took a few steps forward, toward the nearest layering flow of energies. He reached out and ran his finger along the boundary, observing the way a ripple spread outward from his touch and spread to the surrounding flows.

They were standing in an interconnected energy lattice of some sort. Randidly narrowed his eyes, but the complex interactions of energy made it difficult to see the shape of the lattice in the same way it was difficult to see what was physically present around him. Heat distortions masked everything. He reached out with Left Hand of the Nether Oracle and Aether Manipulation to see how resilient the pattern was. After about thirty seconds, Randidly could only shake his head slightly.

Taking the barriers apart on a small scale was possible, but that was just as effective as scooping out a portion of a creek: more would eventually flow to fill the gap. And based on the density of both energies, the engines that created them wouldn’t run out of energy anytime soon.

Randidly opened his mouth to say something when Seeker Ozaer shrugged and then began to walk forward. As she encountered the first barrier, a small cloud formed an arch in front of her and forcibly pushed back the barrier to create an opening. Spark careened in every direction as flowing energy skidded off the image, but the image didn’t waver in the least underneath the onslaught.

Randidly’s mouth twitched as Seeker Thunder Wing calmly followed after Seeker Ozaer. Well, that is certainly one way to proceed forward…

The Pinnacle Seekers arrived behind Randidly’s group, so he waved his hands and brought his subordinates forward through the cloud arch. Seeker Thunder Wing looked back toward the new arrivals with a heavy expression. “Alright, get in formation. Your previous behavior stops now. Those who cannot find it in themselves to continue… feel free to remain here and die slowly.”

Instantly, the other Pinnacle Seekers went silent.

But Randidly was mildly surprised to see that none of the fawning Seekers, for all their previously playful attitudes, balked at Seeker Thunder Wings words. Their expressions turned serious and they packed together closely behind Randidly and his group, following through the cloud arches. The whole of the Pinnacle Seekers group proceeded forward at only a walking pace, moving forward and to the right. When the final individual in their group proceeded through the layered energy barrier, Seeker Ozaer’s cloud image vanished.

And due to the fact that the last individual in their train yelped from time to time at a premature closure, Randidly suspected that this wasn’t as easy a process as Seeker Ozaer made it appear.

Again, Randidly wasn’t willing to lose a chance for additional practice. So he reached out about ten meters into the surroundings and began to manipulate the flows. He tried tying them up and redirecting them. He tried reversing them to break the pattern. He also tried weaving two different flows against each other.

None of his attempts had any lasting effect. He could break the pattern, but the continued supply of energy would eventually wash his changes away. But that didn’t mean the attempts weren’t valuable.

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Herald (M) has grown to Level 266

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 261!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Herald (M) has grown to Level 269!

The Pinnacle Seekers didn’t speak of it, but there seemed to be an implicit agreement between them not to follow directly after the group from the Engraving Guild. They continued up the mysterious slope while moving laterally. After about ten minutes of walking, the slope grew steeper and their lateral vector increased so they were going as to the right as they were going upward. It only took five minutes of this new track before Randidly could make out the shape of another group.

Seeker Thunder Wing turned around, perhaps sensing it as Randidly stiffened. He smiled wickedly. “Don’t worry. Those are ours. After we meet up, it’s time to stop sneaking around. Let’s go bag us a Nether King.”